Mike Carter's Blog for Wine Packaging, Design & Marketing Insights

Glen Carlou – Tortoise Hill

March 19, 2007

Comments Off

Swiss based Hess Group owns four New World cellars and vineyards: in California, South Africa, Argentina and Australia. Their award winning Glen Carlou Vineyards is a 125 hectare estate situated in the heart of South Africa’s sought after Paarl Valley.

Glen Carlou offers three distinctive wine ranges, Prestige, Classic and Contemporary. Here is the Tortoise Hill White label from the Glen Carlou Contemporary range. The concept of the tortoise came from the fact that Glen Carlou’s original vineyard was in a valley known as ‘Skilpadje’ or tiny tortoise – which could have been derived from a large rocky outcrop in the shape of a tortoise shell, or from the presence of many Cape tortoises in the area. The wine itself is entry level, good quality table white, and the label echoes the rest of the Glen Carlou stable with the exception of the tortoise icon inclusion and a split in the label to inject renewed interest.

The label was created by Patrick Humphreys from Brimstone Design, and they are printed in South Africa by Collotype Paarl Labels.

To quote Cellarmaster David Finlayson: “To create wines in a uniquely South African way and being bold enough to transcend fads and fashion is the challenge. To this end we subscribe to a holistic approach: meticulous care in the vineyard combined with a personal touch in the cellar.”